ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 97, 26 March 1853, Page 3

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of tin Otaso Witxess

Sir, — I am directed by the Committee of the Otago Settlers' Association to hand jou the enclosed letter, ■which it is hoped will find a place in your- first number. — I am, &c ,

Pet. Proudfoot, Hon Sec, Dunedin, 19th March, 18-53.

Dear. Sir, — Will you be kind enough to lay the enclosed letter before the first meeting of Committee of the Otago Settlers' Association, and oblige, Yours truly, W. Cakgill.

Mr. P. Proudfoot, Sec. To the Otago Settlers' Association. Dunedin, 19th March, 18-33.

Gentlemen, — Allow me, as the youngest member of your Society, and because of your being the only present channel, to offer a few remarks for the consideration of the Otago community You will bear me witness that to the present moment I have stood entirely aloof from your Association, my position as a Government officer ha\ing m.ide it my duty to do so It is not competent for me even now to give any opinion of your past proceedings, or of the mode, so far as 1 have seen them in piint, in which your mind and wishes have been conveyed to the Government. Had I been a member, I might, perhaps, have sometimes differed from you on both points. But this much I am bound to say, as conveying an opinion hitherto withheld from you, that, when suspected and accused of being a party to your proceedings, and of not using my influence to restrain what seemed to have given offence, my answer was, — " I have to assure his Excellency that I have no connection whatever with local politics, and that if any unpleasantness or suffering has accrued to individuals from taking an opposite course, it must be entirely from their own doings. The body of our people are by habit and education the most harmonious, loyal, and industrious, averse to politics, and lo\ing to be at peace*vith all men, — a character which is remarked by every stranger who passes a week in the settlement; but if insulted or misrepresented by individuals, such parties will find them intractable and persevering in. proportion to their intelligence and force of character. Nor could I, though looked up to by many of them, exercise the slighte-t control in case of their being under such inipre- -ions. I deeply regret their having been so little understood by any one, and can only hope that a closer reading of their character will lead to a. s Hinder judgment in the few who have molested them, and remove the unfavourable, and, I must add, exaggerated, impressions that have been conveyed to his Excellency." Such were my convictions in May 'j'2, and they are but the more confirmed by subsequent events, and the progressive influx of kindred spirits from the old country, as seen, for instance, in the passengeis now landing from the Royal Albert. My object therefore in joining your Society, and in writing this letter, is, so far as my experience can avail, to lead away from impressions that might be erroneous or exaggerated, and to assist in giving effect to what is true with all proper courtesy, and with unflinching reliance upon a zighteous God. In the first place, then, fellow-colonists, a single word as to myself, and let it be the last: you have higher things to think of. That my present dismissal is rather a relief to me than otherwise, you will know

from the fact (ere this,' perhaps, in a blue-book),* that on the duties proper to my office being put into other hands I wrote out my resignation, and only refrained from its despatch at the urgent request of leading men, who shrunk from the mischiefs of my successor, be who he might ,amongst those of the approved stamp, and which might have had the fearful effect of driving wise men mad. On these grounds, therefore, I have stood on the pillory of an apparent sinecure, enduring all, and doing the best I could for you by home correspondence and otherwise, until now released, and happily so, at a time when your Constitution is secured by Parliament, and about to be introduced. But that you may exactly understand my position as found affected by the Constitution, and the duties that remain with me, as stated by the Government, I annex copy of the documents.

Let me at once say, that office for mere emolument has no place with me. Necessary public duties ought no doubt to be remunerated, and, from a Judge or Governor downwards, on the principle of a good price for a good article ; the more so, because official salary brings its expenses as well as work. But as salary in the present case is found incompatible, I ha^e no hesitation in doingwhatl ought for a community I had been mainly instrumental in bringing away from their native hearths on principles that are dear to them. My own arrangements are therefore made. I fall back upon my private resources, but must have done with official expenses, including hospitalities to strangers of mark, and which I have no doubt ■will be cared for by others. I make no complaint on this score. lam neither rich nor poor. I can pay my way like other veterans whose standing and usefulness does not rest upon expenditure ; but in giving my time to the public it is all I can spare, and I change my domicile as happy and contented a man as any in the colony.

Your own affairs as a community are at this moment of the deepest interest. You have got a Constitution more liberal than I had even hoped for ; so good, that it would seem impertinence to pick holes in it. To this extent, indeed, it may be called perfect : it gives power to the Representative Assembly to procure amendments ; and assuming that the House will act in the matter with candour and intelligence, which in New Zealand there can be no doubt of, such is the settled state of opinion at home, both in and out of Parliament, that the amending privilege is neither more nor less than a full power to the colony to perfect its own institution 5 , — to do all, in fact, that a rational man could desire. No Minister, e\en if so disposed, could now stand in the way of it; and I for one would suggest an early mark of gratitude to Sir John Pakington as the author of this great measure. BrcnzJ slatues are out of the question, but that the fir^tp iblic building connected with the working of the Constitution should, to the best of our ability, be made lasting and conspicuous, and called Pakington House, so that our descendants may ne\ cr foigct llio founder of their privileges. jLßut the basis of the whole measure is the franchise it confers, and if the foundations be deranged, what sort of structure can be looked for ? Already have you shown vonr \alue for the pri\ilegc of electors by the extent of enrolment on the first opportunity that was given you ; but you cannot forget the attempt that was made on 21st Sept. last, and by whom. You cannot but have marked how the same "party has been added to by some fortuitous selection of magistrates ha\inq power, as before assumed, to create objections and depiive you of your rights. We blame no mnn for his love of convict labour or | dislike to representative government. We blame no j man for having been so ignorant of himself as to ! throw in his lot with a people who abhor the one and unchangeably cleave to the other. We blame no man for his theoretical opinions, be what they may ; nay, not even for those changes to which an absence of political principle and the bias of personal interests may expose him. British history presents | many such instances ; and we do not forget that fixity of principle is in great measure the result of I education and hereditary attachments, which are not in every case alike.. But rights of franchise have come to us from the British Parliament, and we are bound to defend them. Ido not say that they could | |ibe permanently filched from us; that were imposi'jsible; or that the attempt should do otherwise than ijjbring contempt and disappointment on the parties I imaking it. But at the present moment, and before i ! the Assembly can meet, wrong may bo done, and I1I 1 the Assembly itself contaminated ere redress could Ij be had. Let every man. therefore, be instantly alive ,! to his rights, and show his determination to mainjj tain them. j Having called your attention to this point, I feel J it to be so strong and paramount as to require your i instant and undivided attention, and must therefore abstain from remarking upon other matters connected with the Constitution on which it is my purpose hereafter to address you. ] I am, Gentlemen,

Your most obedient servant, W. Cargill.

Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, 11th January, 1553,

Sib,— l am commanded by the Governor-in-Chief to inform you that, under the new arrangements dependent upon the recent Act of Parliament for conferring a Representative Constitution upon this colony, His Excellency regrets it will no longer be in the power of the Local Government to continue the salary of three hundred pounds per annum hitherto paid to you for the purpose, as you are aware, of carrying on the affairs of the Otago Association, though under the title of Commissioner of Crown Lands. Your office and salary will therefore cease from the d.ite of the Proclamation of the new Constitution. — I have the honour to be, &c,

Alfred Domett, Colonial Secretary.

Captain Cargill.

Dunedin, sth March, 18-33.

Sin, — I have the honour to acknowledge your despatch as per margin, in which you inform me that my appointment as Commissioner of Crown Lands with salary of £300 per annum were to cease

from the date of the proclamation.of the new Constitution.

I was not before aware that my appointment had been for any other purpose than the continuance of my duties in the land department of this district under the Crown in place of the Company, and had also believed that the work of correspondence with the Otago Association in respect of emigrant families and other matters was included under the one salary as theretofore.— l have the honour to be, &c, W. Cauoill Alfred Domett, Esq. To the Editor of the Otago Witness, Kauri Bush, 18th March, 1853. Sin, — I have just seen an editorial article in your paper of last Saturday, in which you state that the Commission under which the writer has been appointed to the Commission of the Peace bears date the 17th October last, but was not gazetted until the 19tli of November, and upon which statement you take the liberty of drawing certain conclusions. My object in the present communication is simply to inform your readers that you have stated what is not the fact. The Commission under which I have been sworn in bears date (according to the official copy transmitted to me) the 17th of last November, and was duly gazetted on the 19th of the same month. So much for the truth of your assertions as to matters of fact. Requesting you will insert this in your next publication, I am, &c,

Wm. Johnston.